WEST CALDWELL – The Mizuho Americas Open will take place at a different location this year. With the tournament’s usual venue, Liberty National Golf Club, undergoing renovations, the 2026 and 2027 editions of the Mizuho Americas Open will be hosted by Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell.
While 2026 will mark the club’s first time hosting the Mizuho Americas Open, Mountain Ridge is no stranger to playing host to championship golf. Beyond numerous New Jersey PGA Championships, Metropolitan Opens, Amateur Championships for both the New Jersey State Golf Association and Metropolitan Golf Association, and the USGA Senior Amateur Championship, Mountain Ridge hosted the 2021 LPGA Founders Cup. The 2021 Founders Cup was won by Jin Young Ko, who is slated to be in this year’s Mizuho Americas Open field.
In a recorded interview shown to gathered media at the media day for this year’s Mizuho Americas Open, defending champion, Jeeno Thitikul, who will have the unique challenge of defending a title on a different golf course from the won she won it on, said, “I heard from Michelle Wie (West) last year in the pro-am on Wednesday that played together and she said that it’s a nice golf course too but that, you know, like, it should be a tough conditions for us as well. It wasn’t that easy of a golf course to play.”
Thitikul continued, “I think it should be fun for, especially for me, changing from like Liberty National, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
While Ko won the Founders Cup at Mountain Ridge in 2021, the 2026 Mizuho Americas Open will be the first time many of the golfers in the field are exposed to the course.
Along those lines, Thitikul, whose first season on the LPGA Tour was 2022, a year after the 2021 Founder’s Cup at Mountain Ridge, said that while she has not seen the course, it should present a good opportunity to learn another course.
“You know we are golfers. We have to adapt to all the, you know, the fairways, the green lies, and everything, we have to adapt like every week,” Thitikul said, adding, “So, I think it’s just normal for us to, to be adapting to a lot of golf courses.”
Tournament Director Caila Roberts echoed those sentiments, adding that while the backdrop is different, it is an exciting change and that Mountain Ridge will be a good test for the LPGA players.
Tournament Host Michelle Wie West Set to Compete as Sponsor Exemption
Tournament Host Michelle Wie West will add “competitor” to her role at this year’s Mizuho Americas Open, joining the field at Mountain Ridge as a sponsor exemption.
Wie West, who won four tournaments, including the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2, during her time on the LPGA Tour said, “When I was presented with the idea for me to play, I couldn’t think of a better time to return to the course and compete with the world’s best golfers, as well as have the opportunity to play alongside the top AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) girls.”
In addition to getting back out on the course competitively, Wie West added that she is excited to share with her children what it is like to work hard towards a goal and prepare for and participate in a professional golf tournament.
The Mizuho Americas Open will be the first of two tournaments that Wie West plans to compete in 2026, as she is also set to compete at the U.S. Women’s Open in June.
The 2026 Mizuho Americas Open tees off in West Caldwell on May 7. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased by visiting https://mizuhoamericasopen.com/tickets/.
